BETWEEN THE HEDGES

Monday, February 22, 2010

Bull Radar

Posted by Gary .....at 11:01 AM

Style Outperformer:
Small-Cap Growth (+1.08%)

Sector Outperformers:
Semis (+2.12%), Banks (+1.87%) and Education (+1.59%)

Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:
SQNM, ADSK, TSU, ECLP, UBS, HBC, PTNR, STO, SLXP, DLTR, PZZA, BCSI, AAWW, NETC, LRCX, GMCR, OSIP, SGI, VPHM, HURN, BUCY, ONXX, RRD, CACC, APKT, ALTR, CREE, WL, MIL, NFP, CKP, RCL and FMR

Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:
1) SLXP 2) MBI 3) TMO 4) ADSK 5) GRMN

Trading Links

Posted by Gary .....at 10:35 AM

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Monday Watch

Posted by Gary .....at 10:09 PM

Weekend Recommendations
Barron's:
- Made positive comments on (GTLS), (CASY), (MYL), (WAG), (WFC), (C), (MON), (AU) and (AIMC).

Night Trading
Asian indices are -.25% to +.5% on average.
Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 113.0 -4.0 basis points.
S&P 500 futures +.37%
NASDAQ 100 futures +.41%

Morning Preview
BNO Breaking Global News of Note
Google Top Stories
Bloomberg Breaking News
Yahoo Most Popular Business Stories
MarketWatch News Viewer
Asian Financial News
European Financial News
Latin American Financial News
MarketWatch Pre-Market Commentary
U.S. Equity Preview
TradeTheNews Morning Report(9:30 am EST)
Briefing.com In Play
SeekingAlpha Market Currents
Briefing.com Bond Ticker
CNN US AM Market Call
NASDAQ 100 Pre-Market Indicator/Heat Map
Pre-Market Stock Quote/Chart
WSJ International Market Performance
Commodities Futures
IBD New America
Economic Preview/Calendar
Earnings Calendar
Conference Calendar
Who's Speaking?
Upgrades/Downgrades
Politico Headlines
Rasmussen Reports Polling

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
- (CEP)/-.10
- (BRCD)/.15
- (CPB)/.74
- (LOW)/.12
- (PWR)/.21
- (JWN)/.79
- (DNDN)/-.27
- (RSH)/.59
- (PEGA)/.14

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- Chicago Fed National Activity Index for January is estimated to rise to -.19 versus -.61 in December.

10:30 am EST
- The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity Index for February is estimated to rise +10.0% versus a +8.3% gain in January.

Upcoming Splits
- None of note

Other Potential Market Movers
- The Fed's Yellen speaking, Treasury's $8B 30-yr TIPS auction, $26 bln 3-month and $28 bln 6-month Treasury Bills Auctions, Goldman Tech Conference, CSFB Services Conference, (HON) investor conference and the (XLNX) analyst meeting could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are higher, boosted by technology and commodity stocks in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the week.

Weekly Outlook

Posted by Gary .....at 3:17 PM

Click here for Wall St. Week Ahead by Reuters.

Click here for Stocks to Watch Monday by MarketWatch.

Click here for TradeTheNews.com Weekly Calendar.

BOTTOM LINE: I expect US stocks to finish the week mixed as rising sovereign debt worries, profit-taking and China bubble/trade fears offset lower energy prices, mostly positive earnings reports, less economic pessimism and short-covering. My trading indicators are giving mixed signals and the Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the week.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Market Week in Review

Posted by Gary .....at 11:57 PM

S&P 500 1,109.17 +2.85%*

Click here for the Weekly Wrap by Briefing.com.

*5-Day Change

Friday, February 19, 2010

Weekly Scoreboard*

Posted by Gary .....at 8:25 PM

Indices
S&P 500 1,109.17 +2.85%
DJIA 10,402.35 +2.55%
NASDAQ 2,243.87 +3.05%
Russell 2000 631.62 +4.32%
Wilshire 5000 11,391.35 +3.08%
Russell 1000 Growth 496.57 +2.78%
Russell 1000 Value 567.22 +3.18%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 674.13 +2.64%

Morgan Stanley Cyclical 829.86 +4.24%
Morgan Stanley Technology 565.44 +2.80%
Transports 4,060.52 +3.50%
Utilities 377.10 +2.65%
MSCI Emerging Markets 39.29 +1.40%

Lyxor L/S Equity Long Bias Index 960.71 +.25%

Lyxor L/S Equity Variable Bias Index 847.99 +.55%

Lyxor L/S Equity Short Bias Index 929.18 -3.52%

Sentiment/Internals
NYSE Cumulative A/D Line +74,350 +11.42%
Bloomberg New Highs-Lows Index +187 +158
Bloomberg Crude Oil % Bulls 31.0 -38.0%
CFTC Oil Net Speculative Position +68,436 +62.71%

CFTC Oil Total Open Interest 1,301,624 -.46%
Total Put/Call .82 -2.38%
OEX Put/Call .82 -42.66%
ISE Sentiment 92.0 -10.68%
NYSE Arms 1.03 +22.62%
Volatility(VIX) 20.02 -16.61%
G7 Currency Volatility (VXY) 12.16 -3.06%
Smart Money Flow Index 9,347.25 +2.72%

Money Mkt Mutual Fund Assets $3.161 Trillion -1.2%
AAII % Bulls 35.85 -2.45%
AAII % Bears 35.22 -15.90%

Futures Spot Prices
CRB Index 277.80 +3.0%

Crude Oil 79.81 +6.10%
Reformulated Gasoline 208.57 +8.10%
Natural Gas 5.04 -6.65%
Heating Oil 206.99 +5.60%
Gold 1,122.10 +2.35%
Bloomberg Base Metals 205.32 +6.09%
Copper 337.90 +7.02%

US No. 1 Heavy Melt Scrap Steel 301.67 USD/Ton unch.

China Hot Rolled Domestic Steel Sheet 3,815 Yuan/Ton unch.

S&P GSCI Agriculture 332.07 -.39%

Economy
ECRI Weekly Leading Economic Index 128.40 -1.23%

Citi US Economic Surprise Index +37.60 -10.26%

Fed Fund Futures imply 64.60% chance of no change, 35.4% chance of 25 basis point cut on 3/16

US Dollar Index 80.55 +.68%

Yield Curve 285.0 -1.0 basis point

10-year US Treasury Yield 3.77% +8 basis points

Federal Reserve’s Balance Sheet $2.259 Trillion +.90%

U.S. Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 42.0 -16.0%

Western Europe Sovereign Credit Default Swap Index 88.66 -5.68%

10-year TIPS Spread 2.28% +3 basis points
TED Spread 16.0 unch.
N. Amer. Investment Grade Credit Default Swap Index 92.34 -7.90%

Euro Financial Sector Credit Default Swap Index 86.36 -5.36%
Emerging Markets Credit Default Swap Index 273.92 -3.36%
CMBS Super Senior AAA 10-year Treasury Spread 360.0 -41.0 basis points

M1 Money Supply $1.697 Trillion +.30%

Business Loans 649.80 -.17%
4-Wk MA of Jobless Claims 467,500 -.30%

Continuing Claims Unemployment Rate 3.5% unch.
Average 30-year Mortgage Rate 4.93% -4 basis points
Weekly Mortgage Applications 600.50 -2.06%

ABC Consumer Confidence -49 -1 point
Weekly Retail Sales +1.90% -10 basis points
Nationwide Gas $2.62/gallon -.01/gallon
US Heating Demand Next 7 Days 7.0% above normal
Baltic Dry Index 2,704 +5.01%

Oil Tanker Rate(Arabian Gulf to US Gulf Coast) 50.0 unch.

Rail Freight Carloads 192,354 -4.39%

Iraqi 2028 Govt Bonds 77.88 +.41%

Best Performing Style
Small-Cap Value +4.88%

Worst Performing Style
Large-Cap Growth +2.78%

Leading Sectors
Steel +7.89%

REITs +6.92%

Hospitals +5.54%

Coal +5.40%
Networking +4.30%

Lagging Sectors
Homebuilders +1.67%

Drugs +1.31%

Gold +.74%

Telecom +.17%
HMOs -1.98%

One-Week High-Volume Gainers

One-Week High-Volume Losers